CULLMAN, Ala. – Cullman Mayor Woody Jacobs on Tuesday proclaimed the month of November Home Care and Hospice Month in Cullman, urging citizens to recognize and appreciate home care and hospice professionals in our community. Emily Price Hall, Jennifer Harbin and Justin Gollott from ComfortCare Hospice accepted the proclamation from Jacobs.
“Many of us know someone who has used the services of a home health care or hospice program,” said Jacobs. “We hope we never need home health or hospice care, but when we do need these services they are a great comfort to us.”
November is set aside each year in the United States as National Home Care and Hospice Month to honor all professionals who work in home care and hospice. Both home health care and hospice providers strive to provide access to individualized services based on a patient’s unique care needs and wishes.
Home health care is a wide range of health care-related services provided for patients in their homes. Registered nurses (RNs), under the direction of an attending physician, assess and monitor health care needs and provide a variety of skilled nursing services including medication management and education, wound and post-surgical care, pain management, nutritional support, dressing changes, diabetic care and more. The home health care team also generally includes social workers who help patients and families manage and alleviate the stress that medical conditions often create; home health aides who assist patients with the tasks of daily living and personal care; and therapists who help patients regain functional mobility, speech, fine motor and other skills.
Hospice care is focused on improving the quality of life for people experiencing a terminal illness and their caregivers. The hospice care team generally consists of an attending physician who coordinates care, RNs who cares for the patient and offers family support, aides who assist with bathing and dressing and other everyday activities, a social worker who gives emotional support and financial guidance, a chaplain who provides spiritual support to the patient and his or her family and other professionals or volunteers who coordinate services or offer non-medical care and support.
According to recent statistics, about 12 million people in the United States require some form of home health care for conditions such as diabetes, heart failure, chronic skin ulcers, osteoarthritis and hypertension. Home health care offers security, dignity and the ability for patients to maintain as much independence as possible.
Approximately 1.6 million people in the United States receive care by hospice providers each year. The majority of hospice care takes place in the home, allowing patients to spend their final months at home with loved ones. Hospice care is covered under Medicare, Medicaid and most private insurers.
“I am grateful to all of the hospice agencies that serve patients in our community,” said Jacobs. “I am proud to proclaim November Home Care and Hospice Month in Cullman and want to encourage everyone to recognize and appreciate all of those in our community who provide these services.”
To find out more about home care and hospice services, visit the National Association for Home Care & Hospice at www.nahc.org.
